Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542395
r I Greg Crater: Supercross Soldier ( Greg Crater could be considered a foot soldier of the Supercross series. The Renton, Washington native is one of a handful of full-fledged privateers riding the AMA circuit, paying their expenses out of the money they make, if they are lucky, at each round. Crater even buys his own bikes. This year was the 22- year-old's first full season in the premier Supercross class, and he proved himself worthy by making almost every night show this season. Crater's hard work and efforts were fully reward when he made the marn event, his first ever in AMA Supercross competition, at the Seattle round, in front of his hometown crowd. Despite the fact that he had pre- viously made a main event at the FIM World GP in Vancouver, Crater was still pretty excited about the Seattle race when we did a recent interview, cnr Talk about making th€ main in s€attl€. gregcrater: lt was a really big deal for me. lt was a good feelinS, because the local fans had been watching my progress all year long, and to make the main event in front of them at my home- town event was really great. lt was a good feeling having people cheer for you that you don't even know. cn: You mad€ it into th€ main €v€nt bU turning in a good rid€ in gour s€mi. TEll us about that. gregcrater: Yeah, it was weird. I started almost all the way outside and iust kind of walked through the first turn and came out decent. I was probably swenth or eighth for the whole moto, and on the last tlvo laps a couple of guys fell down and ljust kind of put it together. Tyler Evans fell down and I got by, then Jacob Marsack kind of struggled in the whooPs and I got by him- I kind of got lucky, but I had good lap times on those laps. cn: How did Uou r€st of th€ U€ar go for gouP gFescrater: lt was a good year for me. I got hurt back East when I fell before Odando. I iumped over rny bars during practice and iniured my feet. so that kind of slowed me down for a while. For four or frve weeks. I had to iust ride around in order to make the night program so I could collect my money- I was able to real- ly start racing again at Detroit, but the con- fidence leyel wasn't there, until Seattle. I felt really good at Vegas, too. 5o at least my confidence is up gorng into the outdoors. cnr How much of th€ s€ries had gou Fidd€n b€for€P lr,egcrater: The last couple of years I rode all of the West Coast rounds and maybe one or two back East, cn: You didn't follow th€ usual Amat€ur €v€nts. Lon€tta s and PonEa citg. as most kids that turn pro hev€ don€. How did gou work Uour wau up to the pro l€v€l? gregcrater: I ,ust came up through the ranks in this paft of the country I rode 125 Junior when I was I 3, and when I was 15. I moved to the lntermediate class. I vr'ent pro when I was 16, iust be€ause I could, and I raced some Arenacross stufl. cn: What s€parat€d gou from a lot of oth€r kids in that ar€aP gregcrater: I trained a lot with Lance Smail when I was 14and 15,andhereal- ly helped me a lot. But I credit a lot of my success and my style of aggressive riding to bi(ycle racing - BMX. Bicycle racing is iust a sprint and you have one lap to do it. lt has made me aggressive and not afraid to rub elbows with peoPle. cn: What ar€ Uour Plans for th€ outdoor s€ason2 gregcrater: I am working on a deal with some other Washington kids who want to go race, so it looks like we will be doing all of them except for l'4ount Morris. That's the most I have ever done, so I will 8et to see some tracks I have never seen. I hope to make top l5 or l0 by the end of the season. By Shan Moore a a t a I ) \ / 'a--taair,- _fi.itG I I n I t ) r \ 9aI A WU"Utq gatuu O{ J lt t u.j-r Ft,!'.r =D I r I I tl I PHCt Sinqla fturilk! \ CbII 0f,o{Bfr2220 lor t 1 4'7s1 -7 433!. r- Yts,n C6n6da, Mexico and all othet countries $65.00 l0ne year, 12 monthlv issues, First Class Mail) I I8 MAY 3I, 2@6 . CYCLE NEWS Personal Watercraft lllustrated: 3505-M Cadillac Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92626